Shear sharpener



July 19, 1949. YDER 2,476,463-

SHEAR SHARPENER Filed Nov; 24, 1945 aw 5 V052 W 40 flttom g/ Patented July 19, i949 SHEAR SHARPENER John F. Snyder, Glendale, Calif.

Application November 24,

4 Claims.

I seek to provide in this invention, in a general sense, the. provision of a sharpener for shears or knives having novel features and which may be formed. as a self-contained unit or as an attachment applicable to any suitable vibratory apparatus such as hair clippers, electric razors and like devices.

Usually shears such as are employed by barbers and others as well as knives are ground so as to provide sharp cutting edges and often such operations require removing the shears and knives from the locations in which they are used for long periods of time, thereby depriving the users of the benefit of such devices. Every barber shop is provided with hair clippers of conventional form which have relatively vibrating cutters. Likewise, most households have electric razors (commonly called dry shavers) and other vibrating units available for different purposes. Hence, I seek to provide a sharpener for shears and knives which is so arranged that it may be readily applied-although perhaps in different ways-to any convenient vibratory device without necessitating any structural changes therein in such a manner that a blade may be supported thereon in sharpening position in contact with an abrasive element which is. vibrated relative to the cutting edges of the blade in response to the vibrating impulses occasioned by a prime mover, as in a motor driven hair clipper.

It is well known that the movable cutter of a hair clippers moves transversely of the handle and the sharpening device of my design includes a suitable supporting structure arranged to be clamped and locked on the clipper foot, a guard or guards against which blades of shears or knives may be held during a sharpening operation, and an abrasive element so connected with the movable cutter of the clipper that it will reciprocate rapidly while the clipper is energized.

Thus, when the cutting edge of a blade is held against the abrasive element at a proper angle and also against a guard, the cutting edge will be quickly sharpened and the necessity for sending shears or knives to a commercial sharpener will be eliminated.

I have shown my improved sharpener arranged to be readily attached to a conventional type of motor driven hair clipper in the appended drawings, but it will be obvious that with minor changes not material to the present invention the same operating features may be attained when the device is applicable to a different type of vibrator.

Hence, I do not limit my invention to the spe- 1945, Serial No. 630,607

cific form of device shown in the drawing and described herein except as the same may be limited by the scope of the claims which set forth the spirit of the invention and a preferred structure.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional motor driven hair clipper with my sharpening attachment operatively applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation view of the same;

Fig. 3 is Fig. 4 is a sectional view on Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the sharpener, partly broken away;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary section on line fi-ii of Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a plan view similar to Fig. 5 except that a modified means of attaching the sharpener to a vibrator is shown; and

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the sharpener detached from the vibrator, as shown in section.

A preferred form of structure, especially designed for application to a motor driven clipper A includes a metal frame B formed with abottom web l having an inclined frontportion la, Fig. 4, and a rear flat portion lb adapted to conform to and underlie the stationary cutter A1 of clipper A, side portions 2 and 2a bent upwardly from bottom 8 and adapted to closely fit the sides 3 and 3a of the clipper body, side guards 4 and id formed as upward extensions of side portions 2 and 2a and a front guard 4b inclined inwardly and so tilted that a blade C as of a knife or scissors may be supported with their cutting edges overlying an elongated hone or abrasive bar D above the reciprocable vibrating cutter A2 of clipper A. An elongated hone D is attached as by means of screws 5 to an upstanding portion 6 of a hone carrier E (Fig. 6) mounted for reciprocatory movement on member B and is adapted for operative connection with the movable cutter A2 of the clipper, so that as the movable cutter vibrates the carrier E' and hone D will correspondingly vibrate relative to and serve to sharpen a blade C when it is held in sharpening position against the hone. As shown in Fig. 6 carrier E has a portion 5a of right angular cross section adapted to slidably engage a correspondingly formed seat 'l at the front of bottom I, while the rear side thereof is inclined at 8 and may have ribs 9 thereon spaced and formed so as to engage certain spaces between the teeth of the movable cutter of clipper A, or be otherwise operatively a fragmentary front view; 7 line 4-4 of connected with the movable cutter. Hone 1) may be extended to project through a cutout portion of side guard so that a' blade may be rested against the guard and drawn across the hone.

As shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5, the sharpener is affixed to the clipper body A by means of a pair of similar slides or locks F which have flat bodies 10 adjustable in slots H on opposite sides of clipper A and formed with right angularly bent pulls 12 which when pushed inwardly serve to lock the sharpener on the clipper or when pulled outwardly release the sharpener. The slots H are provided in hair clippers in both the movable and fixed cutter in order to reduce the frictional area in contact and the slides F engage in the slot in the stationary cutter and are tightened against it. Portions ll] of members F have elongated slots [3 through which screws l4 extend into bottom 1 and carry wing nuts I5 on their lower ends by means of which screws l4 may be tightened so as to hold the sharpener in position. Or, as shown in Fig. '7, in lieu of members F, wing headed screws l6 may be carried by sides 2 and 2a, or either of them, which abut the sides 3 of the clipper body A and serve to lock the sharpener in operatived position.

At each end of carrier E screws l1, Fig. 5, are provided for holding the carrier reciprocably on bottom I of member B, said screws extending through slots 18 in member E and being screwed into bottom I as shown in Fig. 5. Thus, the hone carrier is free to reciprocate with the movable toothed cutter A2 of the clipper.

The lower end or cutting head of the clipper A is disposed substantially in a horizontal position while the handle thereof is inclined at a suitable angle for convenience in operation and effectiveness, so, when the attaching members F are outwardly extended or the screws l6 are retracted the sharpener attachment B may be readily moved into position under and over the cutters A1 and A2 and thereafter adjusted for holding the sharpener on the clippers in operative position. Regardless of how the carrier D is fixed to and arranged for vibration with the movable cutter, the hone D will rapidly reciprocate when the clipper is rendered operative so that when a blade C is supported thereagainst at a proper angle its cutting edge will be sharpened.

I claim:

1. In combination with a hair clipper having a stationary cutter arranged below a reciprocated cutter and means for operating the reciprocating cutter; a sharpening attachment for cutting implements such as scissors, knives, and the like comprising a stationary part, and means for detachably securing said stationary part to the clipper, so that said part extends below the stationary cutter of the clipper, a part reciprocably mounted on the stationary part and adapted to be actuated by the reciprocating cutter of the clipper, and an elongated member of abrasive material secured on said reciprocably mounted part.

2. A sharpening attachment as set forth in claim 1, and in which the stationary part of the sharpening attachment is detachably clamped to the stationary cutter of the hair clipper.

3. A sharpening attachment as set forth in claim 2 and in which the stationary part of the attachment is provided at each side with inwardly slidable slides positioned when in inward position in the usual slots provided in the stationary cutter of the hair clipper, and means for tightening said slides against the upper side of the stationary cutter to clamp the stationary part of the attachment against the under side of the stationary cutter, release of said means for tightening said slides enabling the latter to be slid out of engagement with the stationary cutter and the attachment to be removed from the hair clipper.

4. A sharpening attachment as set forth in claim 2, and in which the stationary part of the attachment is formed with upstanding and inwardly inclined portions projecting above the member effective to support a blade to be sharpened at an angle to and in engagement with the member of abrasive material.

JOHN F. SNYDER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 487,328 Houlbrook Dec. 6, 1892 1,002,095 Tinline Aug. 29, 1911 1,647,203 Smith Nov. 1, 1927 1,652,469 Dodge Dec. 13, 1927 2,142,105 Blankner Jan. 3, 1939 2,337,289 Wisterman et a1. Dec. 21, 1943 

